Port Arthur rejects Orange County man's deannexation request

Published 6:24 pm, Wednesday, May 2, 2012

A resident on what is mostly marsh land in Orange County is still a property tax captive of the city of Port Arthur - across the Neches River - because Port Arthur City Council rejected a deannexation request on Tuesday.

Rodney Townsend's property lies within a 3,200-acre tract of land Port Arthur annexed in 1997 with the goal of collecting property taxes on Entergy's Texas Sabine power plant in Bridge City.

Townsend built his house after the annexation and never notified the city of Port Arthur, according to a brief on the council's agenda prepared by City Attorney Valecia R. Tizeno. Also, Townsend's house was built after the expiration of a 10-year agreement by the city to extend the services deemed feasible to extend, the brief stated.

The agenda item was included in the section called "consent agenda," a decision made by an up or down vote by council without discussion and without letting the public comment on it, said Townsend's attorney, Alan Sanders.

"I'll be finalizing a decision with the Townsends on what to do next," Sanders said.

In an April 10 article in The Enterprise, Townsend said he had first contacted the Port Arthur city attorney's office in May 2011 to ask for time on the Port Arthur city council agenda to request deannexation. Another attorney had filed a request for deannexation in August 2006. The city of Port Arthur took no action in either case.

Townsend's options now include filing a lawsuit in state district court to force deannexation, or to do nothing, Sanders said.

Find out how much Townsend has to pay in taxes to the city of Port Arthur in Thursday's Beaumont Enterprise.